T tor, professor of history and direc-ae an of the Institute of Research i inme African American Studies, Colum-ee bia University; Kathleen Cleaver,~ fellow, Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library, one of the early leaders of the Black Panther Party; Marc P._ Mealy, staff economist forthe U.S.House of Representatives T Inter- national Relations: Committee, community youth activist and poet; Dr. Alvin Poussaint, professor of clinical psychiatry and associatedean for student affairs, Harvard Medical School and director, Me- dia Center of the Judge BakerChildren Ts Center in Boston; E.R. Shipp, Pulitzer Prize-winning col- umnist and assistant professor, Columbia University GraduateSchool of Journalism, and ombuds- man for the Washington Post._ The group was hosted by the American Legacy magazine in New York City. A summary of the dis-cussion is provided in this and nextweek Ts Urban Perspective.Marable: W.E.B. DuBois saidthat othe problem of the 20th cen-tury is the problem. of the colorline. � He made that statement in1900 at the First Pan African Con-gress. Will the color line remain; wee Manning serie aes:ity T sous that weit athe beginning Ek. the 20th century? .: Shipp: In many ways,we are 2still dealing with that issue, a fact -*s brought home to me every �time I attend the journalism con-ventions. The American Society of -Newspaper Editors "respondingto _thethe riots and Kerner CommissionReport "established a goal that bythe year 2000, every newsroomwould look like the community itsnewspaper served. There is no wayit can achieve that goal by 2000. ...So, yes, in my field, I think thecolor question, the race question,is still going to-be with us well into- the 21st century.Mealy: I would certainly con-cur with that. From my own van-tage point as an economist, when Ithink of some of the issues aroundglobalization, I look at reigns ofcolor and where those communi-ties are going to be ... issués of raceand culture are going to be impor-tant globally. We talk about globalcommodities and the branding ofcultures with Mc Donald Ts every-where and Eurocentric points ofview dominant throughout the glo-bal economy. I think those willcontinue to be matters of concern.Cleaver: DuBois made his com-ment at the dawn of the 20th cen-tury, a time when most of Africawas colonized by Europeans andmost people of color in North andeX ii@ih@§ M&A A|A\_A_-A_-A-:A-AG|GMAGA-AQAaQAg_li§iAg§FIg§iAg§\AgkiAQ§iAsikik hh SSAASAN SASS ASSASSINS ASANTE ASS SSSSSSmestic colonialism. There Ts beena.move from direct colonialism intoa sort of neo-colonialism mixedwith a form of global interdepen-dence. The way in which the color COL. LEON H. WASHINGTON JR.The Sentinel Ts Man of the 20th Century.See a related story on Page A-1.CLL LLL LLL LLLpretend that we have a democracy,but acknowledge that there Ts aproblem with race. But in Brazil,they don Tt even pretend to have ademocracy, yet they pretendthan it wasPoussaint: I see a problem withthe color ling, but in some ways it Tsno longer so sharply drawn. As thecountry contains more people ofcolor, African Americans are stillat the bottom, in a social and psy-chological way, in a hierarchy ofraces. That hierarchy may become .more entrenched and persist in amuch more complicated way whereit Ts not by color per se, but by theethnic group with which someoneidentifies. That will be an ongoingproblem for African Americans.There are a lot of indications thatthis critical issue is going to bedefined for us because of our race,~ but will be buffered by socioeco-nomic status. And, some of theupper and middle-class blacks willbe able to function in ways that .make them think there isn Tt a colorline.Shipp: But they Tre Soften re-minded of that color line. I wasrecently at a conference about me-dia coverage of race and ethnicity,and one of the pieces we screenedwas a oDateline NBC � specialabout Matterson, IIl., a suburb ofChicago where houses sell for hun-dreds of thousands of dollars. Whenblacks started moving in "thesewere doctors and lawyers and uni-versity professors "white peoplestarted running because the idea of20th. Century: A View Through the Eyes ofa Young Black Man Caged Wile cae a valu, ismuch more:at the time of the Pan African Con- ;aProperty values were actually go-ing up, crime was down and theschools were pretty much the sameas they had always been. But thesewhite people could not see thatthere are differences among blackpeople based on socioeconomic =conditions, =Marable: In effect, pretrialbecomes a construction of the pro-jection of white folk upon us, ratherthan what black people are all about.One of the things that characterizesEurocentric scholarship is the in-terpretation of African Americanpeople as victims in, rather than. creators of, their own history. Let'ssay we are the creators of our own |. history, then in the last century,what have we been most successful |in creating in American society? |Are there creative ways that wedealt with problems?Poussaint: the way we have cre-ated history is by struggling againstgreat odds. We've had aneffectonall areas, but our biggest accom- °plishment has been pushing �through the civil rights movement . and the black consciousness move-+e eee eee ee we;Poe eS curudichendaeren. - sement to bring about enormous po- "»litical, socioeconomic and psycho-logical gains. With the momen-tum, we T ve become more forcefulin nearly every other areaas well "arts, music, politics "in a veryshort period of time.trretySaniev eeee eseve T EyAs the century changes, so do theideas of some young black men.Just recently, a young, highly intelligent black man_ came up with the idea that black people should notvote in the coming elections. He went even furtherby suggesting that all black people should alignthemselves behind the Rev. Jesse Jackson and electhim as president of the United States.He even went so far as to ask several people thatin the event that Jackson and Vice President Al Gorewere the only candidates, for whom would they vote.He was obviously saddened when he learned thatmost of those queried chose Al Gore.The basic premise behind his action was and is,that we should not allow white people to choose ourcandidates for us. As he talked on, it became appar-ent that he did not understand that nearly everymajor black leader we have seen emerge in recentyears has been either created or endorsed by thedominant white needs.His argument was persuasive to some degree. Ashe talked on however, it became reasonably clearthere is much he does not know about the civil rightsmovement, the rise of African Americans in a vari-ety of business ventures and enterprises, as well asthe destruction of some of the barriers we haveendured through the years. .Probably one of things that confounded him wasthe fact there is no such thing as a monolithic blackcommunity..We are in amalgam of the society inwhich we have been reared.In this context, it does not matter whether wecame here as slaves. From that perspective, if we aregoing to be angry, then our anger should start withthe Africans who first sold us to the slave traders.But the facts of the matter are simple. Nobody wantsto touch that issue. It seems easier to blame the whiteslave traders. That is grist for another mill. Getting back to the young man whose notionssparred th:s column. When it was suggested to himthat there might be better candidates than Jackson atthis point, he was confused and perhaps even takena little aback.The name of Gen. Colin Powell was thrown out.He immediately charged that Powell is a tool and thecreation of the white imperialist system. But hecould not ¢oherently explain that system. It wassuggested that if he believes there is a black candi-date who can win a presidential election, then per-haps he should look at the current crop of majorblack intellectuals. Men like Henry Louis Gatescould be courted and prepared for the race.An attempt was made to make him understandthat the national black community does not have thenecessary numbers to elect a president. If a blackcandidate is to win, then it will take a collaborativeeffort, such as the one put forth by Jackson in 1984.when the Rainbow Coalition was founded.Perhaps the hardest point to drive home was thefact that not all black people think alike. Therefore,not all black people are looking for the same thing.Over the past three decades, we have seen a largenumber of former black Democrats become activeblack Republicans. Not to confuse the issue, weeven have at least one black Libertarian in the personof talk show host Larry Elder.To go even further afield, we have the WardConnerlys of the world. You remember him. He isthe successful black man who fostered the plan todo away with affirmative action in the state ofCalifornia and it is reported that he has been goingaround the country, trying to convince other statesto put the issue on their respective ballots.Now ask yourself this question: Could Jacksonrepresent Larry Elder or Ward Connerly? The an-swer is a true no-brainer. A resounding oNo � ... butthese are not the only ones to be considered. Thereis acoterie of black Republicans who would rathergo to prison than to see Jackson in the WhiteHouse.Around 1966, Dr. Ron Karenga, head of theAfrican American Studies program at Cal StateLong Beach, founder of Kwaanza as well as thefounder and leader of the dormant Us Organization,made an important speech. In it, he pointed out thatwe might very dislike each other for a variety ofreasons, but that it was important we develop whathe called ° Operational Unity. �We have failed to do that and as a result, there arehundreds upon hundreds of splinter groups all oVerthe nation, each trying to make a mark in this convo-luted society. One wonders what would happen ifthey put their differences aside and came together ina unified cause.Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that theyoung Turks of today don Tt have aclue about the truehistory of African Americans in this nation. Con-versely, ask any Jewish youth about the history ofJews all over the world. They can spout it off, book,chapter and verse. Rich or poor, they have a sense ofpride about their history. The answer here is simple.Too many of our young people don Tt have it.Maybe a hundred years ago, we could not see anyimmediately visible role models. Not so for the past50 years from 1948, when Dr. Ralph Bunche wasawarded the Nobel Prize for his work with theUnited Nations, we have seen black men and womenovercome the astronomical odds and succeed.The odist of accomplishments of blacks in theAmerican society would take up, 10 times as muchspace as a available. But our children don Tt knowand their parents have not taught them. ... The endresult is that we have several generations who havenot the slightest idea of what it takes to get frompoint A to point B.As bright as he is, this young man never heard ofWilliam Venold Banks, a black lawyer and lodgeleader, who took a country and western radio stationin Detroit and turned it into the first black-ownedtelevision station in the country. He didn Tt know thatone of the network TV affiliates in Jackson Miss.was black-owned. This information came out whenthe young man complained about blacks not haveany communications venues.Then he was informed that whatever the circum-stances, the white man cannot be blamed for thisentirely. One of the main reasons there is a dearth ofcommunications businesses in the black communitycan be laid. at the feet of the black people withresources who have failed to come together andcreate some of the things we need. There are somefew, but not nearly enough.Indeed, there are many people who would votefor a Gore over a Jackson. Not because they hateblacks, but because they realize that it takes a coali-tion to elect a president and so far, we have failed toform that coalition and create that sense of opera-tional unity.Further, we have failed to educate our childrenabout the Successes of black men and women. Andwe continue in the vein of 100 years ago. ...Hopefully, this young man will take the time tostudy the real history of blacks in this nation andunderstand that one day, there will probably be ablack president of the United States. He will alsohave to understand that we cannot afford not to vote.Too many lives have been given or taken for us totake voting lightly.Re taeBETWEEN THE LINES |Tt is ironic that thelast part of this se-res runs the first week of the 21stcentury. the 19th century freedomKey to our freedom may very wellopen the lock to a 21st centurydilemma; how do blacks in Americafind their way back home (to aculturally centered, economicallyindependent existence). God makesall things new (if we allow him).Blacks, by and large, have a habitof throwing out the old, forsakingitfor owhat is new. � But hidden inose oold things � are the sectets to/ life, � Understanding the past- Riplps us not repeat it.Right metre if yowread the newsa rature of acentury ago, 2000easly could be 1900 from aconstruct perspective. Thers that helped our recent ances-Ve escape slavery less than 150s av eaieliy, closed on themyears: later, just. as thefought, and reel for freedom. Insome cases, as the case with manyof our youth and young profes-sionals, we never knew how we gotover because it wasn Tt passeddown. What has since been discov-ered in the. resurgence of the un-derground railroad sites is that themap is still there and the keys arestill in evidence that social coop-eration can bring about social jus-tice. Escaping from slavery wasabout social justice for us. It mayhave been about economic justicefor those who cooperated, but inthe end social justice prevailed andeconomic justice become wide-spread (even for the runways).The question now becomes, oHow do we get future generationsto pick up the key that holds thepast but also opens the door to theirfuture freedoms? � How do wechange the mindsets of young pro-fessionals, many of whom take fori granted their access in certainindustry: -and privilege,y ogot there � on theirThe; mistake talentthe chance to use it. Their forefa-thers (and mothers) had talent too,*but they didn Tt have the privilegeof being able to compete, of havinglaw on their side and of having thebenefit of oequal access � (at least,in theory) that created the appear-ance of social parity and personalconvenience. Freedom had to betaken, whether it was in 1860 or1960.Each time, the key was left in.the door "the key being oour his-tory, � our struggle for freedom andour desire to be free. Freedom isnow a metaphor since restrictivelaw has been abolished. But free-dom never was about owhere youcould or couldn't go. � Freedomwas owhat you could do or whatyou could be, � given the desire(not éven the opportunity), Mostof our youth (and adults) wouldn'tbe able to find their way to free-dom if somebody left the door open(which they our recent ancestors)did}.Po a9 railroad tours canee pa the consand museum sites can take ourpeople to the places where our an-cestors walked and hid and settledto make a way for them who nowknow little about the sacrifice thatwas made Ton their behalf. Thereare sites all over the country thatallow you to look into the past, andsee and understand what the desireto obtain real freedom was allabout. To sit in situations, absentof conveniences and a secure fu-ture, whereby owalking by faith,not by sight, � was the way of life "not just conveniently quoted scrip-ture.You just have to visit the Sla-very to Freedom Museum in Cin-cinnati, or the National Under- . ground Railroad Museum inMayesville, Ky., or the PaulLawrence Dunbar Home and Mu-seum in Dayton, Ohio or the Afro-American Museum on the oold �Wilberforce University campus(now Central State) or the OhioHistorical Society's Wilbur SiebertCollection (the largest 19th cen-_ tury collection of first account slave ;| � narratives onthe Un- jownshito know that something special hadto happen for the institution of sla-very to be broken up. Social changehas never been legislated into de-cree (something we've obviouslyforgotten). It wasn't just about oanemancipation order. � You only hadto pass through Oberlin, Ohio, theonly place in America where 40acres and a mule came close tobeing areality (every escaped slave who made it to Oberlin was givenfive acres to own; abolitionistswanted to prove the blacks couldsucceed if given education and hadmoral fiber), to know that there -was a coordinated effort to makegood in resolving the inequitiescaused by slavery,You only have to visit theCharles H. Wright Museum of Af-rican American History in Detroit,or the Buxton (Canada) HistoricSite and Museum to know howhorrific the struggle was, but howrewarding successfulonly had to see success!escape (eventhough Canada had neon own formsof racial discrimination). HebeThe Underground Railroad: History Is the Clue to Finding Our Way Home .Settlement � (Josiah Henson T $: 3township) to know that self-deter-.: . «mination is not only possible but itis proven,The Underground Railroadtours are something our childrenneed to see, to understand the realm.of possibilities by virtue of whattheir forefathers did, escaped and.endured. It, very well, could be the -° .lost key our people need in thistime of confusion and confliction " .about owhere we go from here. � ~They (the sites) are a testament tothe moral rightness of men and:women who truly believe oAll menare created equal � and every per-son hasa right to liberty and equal-ity.- The Underground Railraod wasthe key that unlocked the safe forour ancestors, The safe that heldtheir freedom, their liberty, theirdignity and their hopes for equal- ;ity. Something, we seven genera-ck up the "cpapane ventions later are still pursuing, Andcan, one day, find ... if we will only.HeSelon*